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Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Night, Photographs: Spain, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Unclassified

A Narrow Passage.

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A narrow walkway at night, Zaragoza, Spain.
“A Narrow Passage.” — A narrow walkway at night, Zaragoza, Spain

One of our pleasures when we travel is just plain wandering. While we do hit some of the “must see” sites, we also just go out and walk, sometimes without any specific goal. We think this is one of the best ways to get a feel for a city — to plunge in and go where the locals are, even if lack of language skills and cultural familiarity may us feel a bit awkward. That is more or less how I ended up in this spot.

This is an interesting street (walkway? passage?) in Zaragoza. It is very narrow, rivaling some of the remarkably narrow passageways in Venice. It was almost deserted — a few people passed by before I made the photograph. But that wasn’t because it was late — it was because it was too early! In Zaragoza the restaurant and bars that line this walkway open late, well after our familiar American dinner hour. A bit later these shuttered businesses would open and people would populate the scene.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” from Heyday Books, is available directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Spain, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Au Natural Pizza

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Au Natural Pizza
“Au Natural Pizza” — Painted roll-up door on Au Natural Pizza, Sevilla, Spain.

You may have noticed that I photograph a lot of stuff like this, especially for someone who gets categorized as a “landscape photographer.” There’s a lot to say about that, but I’ll save it for the second paragraph. (Those who follow me on social media will have to click through.) This beautifully painted roll-up door and facade are on a small shop along a business street in Sevilla, Spain. That harsh light is seems fairly typical there at this time of day.

So, why does a “landscape photographer” photograph all of this city stuff? A full answer is longer than a paragraph, but here are a few thoughts. For one, like many photographers I am fascinated by the basic “material” of photographs — the textures, colors, shapes, form, composition, light, and so on. And these things are present everywhere, including in cities. I also do not limit my concept of “landscape” to the natural world. As such, these are “urban landscapes.” I’m also fascinated by what these scenes tell us about the people and cultures with which they are associated. To keep it simple enough for this paragraph, they illustrate both similarities among and difference between cultures.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Photographs: Europe, Photographs: Italy, Photographs: Travel, Photographs: Urban/Street

Three Windows, Florence

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Three Windows, Florence
Three windows with green shutters on a weathered wall in Florence, Italy

Three Windows, Florence. © Copyright 2023 G Dan Mitchell.

Three windows with green shutters on a weathered wall in Florence, Italy

This is one of the most prevalent color combinations we saw in Italian towns this past summer — the variations on golden-brown (which can range from essentially tan to dark brown) and the green shutters. I’m sure that not all of the shutters are actually green, but on some days it seemed so. And while I’m listing the typical things, the distressed wall surface needs to be included, as that is very common, too.

The three windows were on a nondescript building in Florence, on a side street a ways away from the bustling center of the touristy historic district. Here the streets were almost empty, and we wandered slowly among buildings, a small park, and portions of a university campus. I like the combination of the symmetry of the three windows with the distances of the open window at the left.

G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” is available from Heyday Books, Amazon, and directly from G Dan Mitchell.

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Links to Articles, Sales and Licensing, my Sierra Nevada Fall Color book, Contact Information.

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Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Urban/Street

Pizza Jack’s No. 2

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Pizza Jack's No. 2
“Pizza Jack’s No. 2” — The dilapidated Pizza Jack’s No. 2 storefront, San Jose, California.

Perhaps there was once pizza at Pizza Jack’s No. 2, but it looks like those days are gone. Though the string of holiday lights along the roof seems sort of festive — perhaps left over from a previous year? The building is in an “interesting” area of town, one that exists between better neighborhoods in one direction and lots of urban redevelopment in the other. This area is one with a lot of potential, but also a lot of abandoned and run-down stuff that probably won’t be here much longer.

This may end up being an unusual example of a photograph that I’ll release in both color and monochrome versions. For obvious reasons, I was thinking “color!” when I made the photograph, but in post it became clear that it also works in monochrome, though with a rather different effect. There’s an old adage about going to black and white in photographs where the color doesn’t tell the story. Here, color does tell at least one important story, but darned if it doesn’t work without the color, too.

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G Dan Mitchell is a California photographer and visual opportunist. His book, “California’s Fall Color: A Photographer’s Guide to Autumn in the Sierra” (Heyday Books) is available directly from him. Blog | Bluesky | Mastodon | Substack Notes | Flickr | Email

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